Style & Substance: Danielle

Name: Dani Doporto

Age: 26

Location: It depends what challenge she’s most recently taken on. Ibiza, America, the Middle East…

Don’t be fooled by charm and smiles. Behind her eyes, Danielle Doporto is a powerhouse of activity. She’s seriously attractive, she knows how to use it to her advantage, but she’s incredibly smart to boot. We’ve sought out her opinion on a few matters…

You’re one of those sparky girls who seems to just be good at everything she puts her mind to. You’ve been everything from aerialist to sales girl. What do you do now?

You wouldn’t believe the assortment of things I have dabbled in. I’ve been a newspaper intern, and Ibiza Angel masseuse, a magazine columnist, a Red Bull girl, an event planner, a VIP hostess, a model, a dancer, an aerialist, a marketing consultant… Everything from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Right now I’m the Marketing Director for a new Broadband company. The first ten months were crazy; learning about the technology, organising our launch, and establishing the brand identity, strategy and collateral. Now that things are up-and-running, my schedule has become pretty light. So you’ve caught me at an exceptionally unusual point in my life, where I’m ready for the next challenge but don’t know what or where it should be! I love strategy and branding, but am still open to trying something new. A couple of contacts recently approached me looking for a Night Club Manager and News Anchor, so maybe the next right thing is out there trying to find me?!

What has been your favourite job?

That’s a tricky one. I’ve had some real highs and lows.

But perhaps:

A photo shoot for a stock image library that needed macro shots of my mouth. No annoying hair, makeup or wardrobe; I just sat around all day being fed ice and chocolate and the like by a girl with pretty hands!

If you could pick a moment in your life to relive a thousand times what would it be?

My first bungy jump (the 134 metre Nevis in Queenstown, New Zealand). I was absolutely petrified shuffling to the edge, but the second I dove out…. just WOW! Time ground to a halt, I could feel the wind on my face, all of my surroundings were perfectly in focus. In an instant I went from being terrified to awestruck. Words can’t really do it justice, but this moment sticks out from all the others because it is and always will be uniquely powerful.

For someone who often makes a living based on glamour and looks, you are a suuuuper smart cookie. You could basically take over the world. How do you think you work these things to your advantage?

I get hired for the former and quickly promoted for the latter! Also, people I’ve worked with remember me, so recommend me to their contacts.

To be honest, my youth, gender and surface-appeal have often worked against me in the Middle Eastern corporate environment, but that has actually been a blessing in disguise. I used to be so serious, with the long-term goal of running a Fortune 500 Company, but once I’d experienced enough frustration, something within me snapped. I decided to embrace all those attributes that were holding me back in the board-room and make them work for me. For the first time, I saw all of my weird and wonderful side projects as real jobs with real potential, and it gave me cause to lighten up and focus on life-experience, rather than career path. So I suppose I started living down to people’s expectations! But in a good way.

I do still hope to take over the world one day, once I figure out what I should be when I grow up!

So…geek-chic then. What is so sexy about a woman with brains?

Challenge and intrigue!

Games don’t work when someone is intelligent enough to see through them and confident enough to call them out. It forces the pursuer to get real and raise their bar, which a lot of guys find exhilarating in my experience. Another dimension of such insight is the ability to figure people out quickly, and I think everyone wants to feel understood. Also, of course, once you defy someone’s first impression of you, they wonder what else they’ve missed!

You’ve had many style incarnations in your life. How do you experiment and who do you model yourself on?

The evolution of my personal style is totally organic and follows the phases of my life. For example, now that I’ve spent most of the past year in an office, I find myself wearing more classic pieces and neutral colours in my everyday life, plus I can’t walk past a sharp blazer without doing a double-take. Whereas when attending circus school, I found myself drawn to bold pieces and enjoyed mixing colours and prints. My wardrobe is pretty eclectic!

I don’t go shopping for fun or make a conscious effort to be trendy, but I do love fashion and style! I regularly check out fashion magazines, TV shows and stuff online, although it’s usually the people in real life that are the most inspiring. Having said that, I’ve never had a fashion role-model; I’d feel like such a dork trying to emulate somebody! Instead, everything gets absorbed and informs my instincts. I reckon I have a good eye and taste level, so am not afraid to get inspired and experiment. The only fashion risk worth worrying about is feeling unconfident in what you have on!

What is the main problem you encounter with the modern man?

1) So, like, where do you guys hang out?

2) I’m stronger than a lot of them.

3) Poor grammar.

How has your relationship with your father affected your expectations in life?

Well, I know not to hold my breath when I hear “5 more minutes” at a bar!

He hasn’t had much of a presence throughout my life, so I don’t think our relationship has had much of a bearing amidst myriad other nature and nurture factors. But, then again, isn’t that the most frustrating yet freeing thing about life – that we’ll never know what might have been, had things happened differently?

Who runs the world?

Short-sighted, selfish and mercenary businessmen, inadvertently supported by the masses. I’m by no means an anarchist, but I have a lot of problems with society that wind me up, so I try not to think about it…. thus contributing to the problem, haha.

Who is your ultimate lesbian crush?

I have to go with my first-ever girl-crush: Pamela Anderson! Aside from the obvious, she just seems like so much fun. I definitely check out more girls than I do guys, but hey, who doesn’t?

What is the one thing a man can do to make himself infinitely more attractive to you?